Skywatcher Snaps Misty Mountain Solar Eclipse

Skywatcher Tamas Ladanyi of The World At Night (TWAN) captured this image of the eclipsed sun glowing above Kab Mountain in Hungary on Jan. 4, 2011. CREDIT: Tamas Ladanyi/The World At Night(TWAN) View full size image

The eclipsed sun glows brightly above Kab Mountain in Hungary in this image from skywatcher Tamas Ladanyi.

The eclipsed sun is surrounded by a water droplet diffraction corona. Water and dust in the air act as mini lenses, scattering the sun's light so that its waves add together in some places and cancel out in others, creating a diffraction pattern called a corona made of concentric circles.

The eclipsed shape of the sun in this image has no effect on the corona.

While the corona looks pearly white, there are subtle color differences caused by different wavelengths, or colors, released from the sun.

Ladanyi, of The World at Night (TWAN), captured this stunning photo on Jan. 4, 2011.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

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